cajun chicken pasta - budget bytes

8/12/2019 Cajun Chicken Pasta - Budget Bytes

1/8

Cajun Chicken Pasta

You are here: Home/ recipes/ meat/ chicken/ Cajun Chicken Pasta

$7.25 recipe / $1.21 serving

09.19.13

Holy Smokes Batman! I found another lonely chicken breast in the back of my freezer! Yesss!

I stock up on chicken breast when they go on sale for $1.99/lb. then wrap them individually in fold-top

sandwich bags, pack them into a heavy duty freezer bag, and then freeze them for later use. That way I

can take one or two out to thaw as needed without thawing the entire pack. And oh the things you can

do with just one single chicken breast!

To stretch this one chicken breast (about 3/4 lb.) out over six servings I sliced it super thin then

punched up the flavor with some Cajun blackened seasoning. I bulked it out with inexpensive pas ta and

a few vegetables. A creamy, fire-roasted tomato sauce helps dampen the flames of the Cajun

seasoning and make the whole dish rich and comforting.

If youre not into spicy foods, you can simply leave the cayenne pepper out of the blackened seasoning

and youll still have a very full flavored, but mild dish. Cant get chicken at a good price or just dontwant to include meat? Heck, just leave it out. I think the vegetables and pasta are more than enough to

carry this meal or try using some sliced mushrooms in place of the chicken. Dont like cream

cheese? No problem, just use 1/4 cup or so of half and half instead.

If you dont have all of the herbs and spices to make the blackened seasoning, you can usually find

either Cajun Seasoning or Blackened Seasoning in the spice aisle at the grocery store. Simply use 2

Tbsp of the spice blend in place of the herbs and spices I have listed below. Be sure to check if the

seasoning blend has salt, though, because if it doesnt, youll want to add some (I used about 3/4 tsp).

For being a creamy pasta dish, this recipe is actually pretty healthy (just one tablespoon of butter and

one ounce of cream cheese for the whole pan). Of course, if youre one of those people that has

YOLO tattooed across their forehead, you could double both the butter and cream cheese and Imsure you wouldnt be sorry. ;)

Cajun Chicken Pasta

un Chicken Pasta - Budget Bytes http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/09/cajun-chicken-pasta/

8 22/07/2014 12:55


2/8

4.9 from 26 reviews

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Total Cost: $7.15Cost Per Serving: $1.19Serves: 6

Ingredients

Blackened Seasoning

2 tsp paprika (smoked or sweet) $0.20

tsp garlic powder $0.03

tsp cayenne pepper $0.02

1 tsp dried oregano $0.10

1 tsp dried thyme $0.10

tsp salt $0.05

freshly cracked pepper (20-25 cranks of a mill) $0.05

For the Pasta

1 large (3/4 lb.) chicken breast $1.50

1 Tbsp butter $0.10

1 green bell pepper $0.85

1 red bell pepper $1.00

1 yellow onion $0.35

1 (15 oz.) can fire roasted tomatoes $1.39

1 oz. cream cheese $0.25

12 oz. fettuccine $0.88

3 whole green onions $0.28

Instructions

Combine the herbs and spices for the blackened seasoning in a bowl. Slice the chicken breast

into very thin, two inch long strips. Place the chicken strips in a second bowl, pour half of the

blackened seasoning over top and toss the chicken to coat in the spices.

1.

Prepare a large pot of water for the pasta. Bring it to a boil over high heat and then add the

pasta. Cook the pasta until tender and then drain in a colander.

2.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the bell peppers and onion. In a large skillet, melt the butter over

medium heat. Once the skillet is hot and the butter is melted, add the chicken and saut until

cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken from the skillet, add the sliced vegetables, and

saut until they are tender and slightly wilted. Remove the vegetables from the skillet.

3.

Turn the heat under the skillet down to medium low. Add the can of fire roasted tomatoes and

the second half of the blackened seasoning. Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and add it

to the skillet. Whisk the mixture until the cream cheese has melted into the tomatoes and

created a creamy sauce.

4.

Add the cooked chicken and vegetables back to the skillet with the sauce and stir to combine.

If your skillet is extra large, add the cooked pasta to the skillet and toss to combine with the

chicken, vegetables, and sauce. If your skillet is smaller, you can add the drained pasta back

to the large pot it was cooked in (with the heat turned off), then add the chicken, vegetables,

and sauce to the pot and stir to combine.

5.

Slice the green onions and sprinkle over top before serving.6.

Save Print


8 22/07/2014 12:55


3/8

Step by Step Photos

First mix up your blackened seasoning in a bowl. Youll have twice as much as shown here, I ended

up doubling it later in the recipe. I used smoked paprika, but you can use regular or sweet paprika

instead.

The trick to getting one chicken breast to stretch out over six servings is to slice it super thin. I sliced

it into thin strips across the breast, but in the areas where the chicken breast was thick, I also sliced


8 22/07/2014 12:55


4/8

the thickness in half then some of them were long, so I cut those in half *lengthwise* until they were

about 2 inches long. Its a lot of s licing, but it makes a big difference.

Use about half of the blackened seasoning mix to coat the chicken.

I just used one green bell pepper, one red bell pepper, and one onion. Red bells were on sale again

woo!


8 22/07/2014 12:55


5/8

Slice em up really thin, too.

Oh yeah, while youre doing all of this slicing, get the pasta going so that it will be finished cooking

when youre ready to add it to the rest of the dish. And heres a secret trick I discovered break the

pasta in half before cooking it. Youll still get the long look of fettuccine, but it will be MUCH eas ier to

stir it together with the other ingredients (the chunks of chicken and vegetables). Long pasta is

notoriously hard to combine with chunky ingredients.

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once its hot and the butter is

melted, add the chicken and saut until its cooked through. Thats another advantage of the thin


8 22/07/2014 12:55


6/8

strips they cook very quickly!!

When the chicken is finished, remove it from the skillet (I put it in a large bowl), then add the veggies.

Saut the veggies until theyre kind of soft, then remove them from the skillet too (you dont want over

cooked, limp, dull veggies). While the veggies are cooking, the moisture will lift up the bits of

seasoning in the skillet left over from the chicken nice!

I used these fire roasted diced tomatoes for an added bit of smokiness. If you cant find fire roasted

tomatoes, you can use plain diced tomatoes.


8 22/07/2014 12:55


7/8


8/8

Now add the cooked chicken and vegetables back into the sauce and stir to coat.

If your skillet is big enough, you can just add the pasta to the skillet and stir until everything is mixed

together. If its not, just add everything back into the large pot that the pasta cooked in. The tall sides

will help you stir it all together without everything falling out. Slice the green onions and sprinkle them

over top before serving!

This makes a LOT of pasta but since when is that a problem?


cajun chicken pasta - budget bytes

Documents